Kristi “ICE Barbie” Noem reportedly thought she’d be safe using a plane meant for “high-profile deportations” to travel with her alleged lover because she allowed Melania Trump to also fly on it.
Noem, who was fired by Donald Trump from her position as Homeland Security secretary Thursday following a string of scandals, has faced scrutiny for using a government-leased luxury 737 MAX jet to travel with her top aide, Corey Lewandowski, with whom she has long been rumored to be having an affair.
The plane used by Noem and Lewandowski was equipped with a private cabin in the back and a bar on board. Noem was pressed about the apparent boudoir on the plane while being grilled about her alleged affair by lawmakers in two separate congressional hearings this week, the second of which ended just hours before Trump decided to fire her.
An administration source told Axios that Noem and Lewandowski also lent the plane to Melania Trump, the wife of President Donald Trump, in the hope it would shield them from scrutiny and justify the eye-watering $70 million cost for DHS to buy the 737 outright.
“They’re smart. Corey is really smart. I don’t take that away from them. Because they flew the first lady on it, they think they’re bulletproof,” the unnamed official said, adding that the move to drag the first lady into their saga was an “insurance policy” for the spending.
Axios reported last month that Noem was planning to spend $270 million on three luxury jets, including the one she was using to travel with Lewandowski.
The first lady used the 737 jet multiple times to fly between Washington, D.C., and New York, even though her husband splits his time between the White House and his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida.
Author Michael Wolff, a frequent guest on the Daily Beast’s podcasts, has speculated that Melania lives alone in New York away from the 79-year-old president.
Noem’s controversial tenure as DHS secretary ended abruptly Thursday with a Truth Social post in which Trump fired her from the Cabinet role and gave her a seemingly invented title of “Special Envoy for the Shield of the Americas.”
Trump decided to remove Noem after her humiliating appearances before House and Senate committees this week. During both hearings, she was pressed about her alleged affair with Lewandowski, which has been dubbed the “worst-kept secret in D.C.”
Noem was also widely condemned over the killing of two U.S. citizens by federal immigration agents in Minneapolis. It is believed Noem further hurt her standing by trying to blame the national outrage over the shootings on White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller, one of Trump’s most trusted and influential allies.
“She was blaming Miller for a lot. No way Trump lets her stay after that,” a DHS insider told the Daily Beast.
